Various organic products, in order to facilitate recovery of desired portions thereof, are processed such that outer encasements, known as hulls, are removed from inner portions of the material, known as the meats. Typically, such processing involves the separation and removal of the hull from the meats so that the meats can be further utilized. One example of an organic granular material which is so processed is soybeans. In the case of this oilseed, it is desirable to remove the hulls from the meats prior to recovering oil from the meats.
Strong interest has been generated in effecting efficient removal because of the necessity of reducing costs in the soybean processing industry. These costs include various components, among them being labor and energy. These two particular costs tend to be increased above what might otherwise be incurred because of inefficient removal of hulls from soybean meats.
Various considerations bear upon how hulls are removed from soybean meats. Some of these include the desire to minimize the time involved in removing the hulls, and the need to minimize damage to the meats in the removal process. Certainly, apparatus which would enable minimization of time and, concurrently, maximization of protection of the meats be a significant advance. That is, if hull removal could be expedited without incurring greater risks of damaging the meats during hull removal, the process could be performed much more efficiently. The costs discussed above would, thereby, be reduced.
It is to these problems and desirable features dictated by the prior art that the present invention is directed. It is a device which improves over all known devices which seek to accomplish the goals of the present invention.